2 March 2026
by Sarah-Jayne Dunn
Sarah-Jayne Dunn on the accessibility of cash – and more
It feels like every day we hear about yet another bank branch closing. It’s a trend that has been driven by the fact that many of us find it more convenient (and banks certainly find it cheaper) to bank digitally.
But what about people who can’t or don’t want to bank online, and who depend instead on personal face-to-face banking services? The current solution is banking hubs.
Banking hubs are shared spaces in the heart of communities, run by a partnership of high street banks. Usually found in a post office or similar space, they allow people to interact in-person with a number of different banks in one place.
The UK Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, launched last year, committed to opening 350 banking hubs across the UK, 30 of them in Scotland. The aim was to fill the gaps caused by the changing bank landscape in an increasingly technological world.
Here at Citizens Advice Scotland, we certainly support these objectives. There is a lot about the banking hub system that is good. However, there are problems too.
The process for deciding where a banking hub should be set up is not in the hands of government or even the local communities they serve. It is in the hands of two independent organisations: Cash Access UK, which is funded by the major banks to provide essential cash services, and LINK which runs the ATM network.
But the assessment of whether a community gets a hub is not based on an in-depth analysis of the full banking needs of that area. Instead, it merely considers the single issue of whether access to cash is available.
And of course, access to cash is an important issue. But such a narrow assessment system fails to understand that people need to do more than just withdraw and deposit money. They might have questions or want to discuss concerns and issues with their account, just as they would at a bank.
The local CAB in Roxburgh - an area which has a hub - recently told me how it was placed miles away from the centre of the community, which has an ageing population and poor transport links and was therefore difficult for some people to access.
Another CAB, in Denny, has been calling desperately for a hub in its area but has been told that there was no need for one because there is already a post office and an ATM. Similar responses have been reported to us by the CABs in Argyll and Bute, Fife and Banffshire.
Had any of these CABs been consulted properly, they would have flagged factors like unreliable transport links and routinely broken ATMs. They could also have suggested alternative options of where hubs could have been placed.
The CAB network should be integral to this decision-making process. CABs have a finger on the pulse of the communities they serve and know what’s needed and what’s missing.
If banking hubs are to work, governments need to take a more proactive role. And the process of assessing where they should be cited must be much more thorough, involving proper consultation with local communities - especially organisations like ours.
Sarah-Jayne Dunn is manager of the Financial Health team at Citizens Advice Scotland.
This column was first published in the Herald.
Are banking hubs the answer to bank branch closures? - TFN
The above information is from a Third Force News (TFN) Weekly Opinion Posts roundup Newsletter Fri 06/03/2026